Historical Climate Data Catalogue: Readme file
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               World Data Center for Paleoclimatology
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DESCRIPTION:
This directory contains the Historical Climate Data Catalogue records.
File names are state-town-firstyear.txt.


Historical Climate Data Catalogue

The purpose of the Historical Climate Data Catalogue is to serve as a directory 
that lists U.S. historical climate data not contained in the National Archives 
collections, including early instrumental records and detailed descriptive 
accounts prior to the advent of modern meteorological networks in 1892. 
Historical data are important to climatic studies because they bridge the gap 
between modern instrumental climate data and paleoclimatic proxy data, 
and furnish information about extreme climate events typically not recorded 
in paleoclimatic proxies.

Collecting, interpreting and making available these important data are difficult 
and time consuming tasks. The National Climatic Data Center's Climate Database 
Modernization Project (CDMP) began to make data available by digitizing data 
from the National Archives, but much additional data exist outside of the National 
Archives collections. A first step in obtaining and making these data available 
was to survey and systematically catalogue these historical climate data records 
to provide information about their existence and availability to the climate 
research community. Our goal with the Historical Climate Data Catalogue 
is to generate such a resource.

The Historical Climate Data Catalogue was funded by the Environmental Services 
Data and Information Management (ESDIM) program. Dr Cary Mock (University of South Carolina) 
was a co-principal investigator on the project. The project also gratefully acknowledged 
the contributions and assistance from many climatologists, historians, and archivists 
across the U.S. 


Historical Climate Data Records
Available records from the Historical Climate Data Catalogue:

Little Rock, AR (USA; 35N, 92W; 2/1/1820 - 5/1/1823; Temperature, Wind Direction, Wind Force, Description of Weather)
Arkansas Gazette

San Francisco, CA (USA; 38N, 123W; 10/10/1849 - 10/30/1849; Temperature)
Daily Alta California

Canon City, CO ( USA; 38N, 105W; 7/19/1873 - 3/31/1874; C.W. Talbot; Temperature, Wind Direction, Cloud Cover, Description of Weather, Snow and Rain Observation)
Meteorological Observations made during the Year 1873 and the early part of the Year 1874 in Colorado and Montana Territories.

Fairplay, CO (USA; 39N, 106W; 7/17/1873 - 9/26/1873; Miller; Barometer, Temperature, Description of Weather)
Meteorological Observations made during the Year 1873 and the early part of the Year 1874 in Colorado and Montana Territories.

Fort Hall, ID (USA; 43N, 113W; 6/3/1872 - 7/13/1872; W. Nicholson; Temperature, Wind Direction, Relative Wind Speed, Cloud Cover, Snow and Rain Observation)
Meteorological Observations, Utah, Idaho, and Montana.

Red River, LA (USA; 31N, 93W; 5/2/1806 - 9/8/1806; P. Custis; Temperature, Wind Direction)
Southern Counterpart to Lewis and Clark

Fort Owen, MT (USA; 47N, 114W; 10/2/1854 - 4/16/1855; Barometer, Temperature, Cloud Cover, Wind Direction, Wind Force)
Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

Bellevile, NE (USA; 42N, 98W; 11/26/1854 - 3/11/1855; Temperature, Cloud Cover, Relative Wind Speed)
Nebraska Palladium

Pembina, ND (USA; 50N, 97W; 9/1/1807 - 7/4/1808; A. Henry; Temperature, Wind Direction, Description of Weather)
The Journal of Alexander Henry the Younger, volume 1

Astoria, OR (USA; 46N, 130W; 3/11/1811 - 6/11/1811; A. Ross; Description of Weather, Wind Observation)
Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River

Fort George, OR (USA; 46N, 124W; 4/8/1814 - 4/22/1814; A. Henry; Temperature, Wind Direction, Description of Weather)
The Journal of Alexander Henry the Younger, volume 2

Oregon City, OR (USA; 46N, 123W; 1/1/1849 - 12/1/1851; G.H. Atkinson; Temperature, Barometer, Wind Observation, Rainfall, Description of Weather)
Oregon Spectator

Anahuac, TX (USA; 30N, 95W; 3/1/1831 - 9/20/1831; Temperature, Wind Observations, Description of Weather)
A Visit to Texas